Download - Hit List of Words to Avoid
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Hit List: Words and Phrases to Avoid in
News Writing 1st person (I, we, our, etc.)
2nd person (you, your, etc.) get, got, getting, gotten,
etc. 6 have, has, had, having
(unless used as helping verbs)
do, did, done, does, doing (unless used as helping verbs)
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Hit List Cont.
go, goes, going, gone, went am, is, are, was, were, be
being been (unless sparingly used for description)
6 There is/are/was/were/will be
a lot, lots thing stuff
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And More good bad6 very really6 kind of sort of little (as in little bit) big/huge (unless used for
size but not when you mean major, important, etc.)
pretty (as in pretty hungry)
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Make Writing Strong Use action verbs for 90 – 95%
of your article/column. Active voice is strong. Passive
voice is weak and only the best choice when used as description or when the true subject (who/what did the action) is unknown.
See your Proofreading/Editing Key for help with passive voice.
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Make Writing Strong
4 Choose words best suited to your topic, activity, method, etc.
4 Put them in context and define them if your audience will need explanations.
4 Use Word Menu.
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Avoid clutter:Use a thesaurus to
find a more concise word. Often one word can replace phrases
Make Writing Concise
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o at this point in time = now
o in a great many instances, in several instances, on many/several occasions, etc. = often, frequently
o has (have) the ability to sing = can sing
o is (are) able to = can
Examples:
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o is (are) going to = willo have to = musto need to = must
o started to = began (But only if pointing out
that an event actually began.
Otherwise just tell what the subject did. Did they start to swim or did they swim?)
Examples cont.
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o for the reason that, due to the fact that = because
o the fact that = REPHRASEo Limit prepositions:
Usually you can convert preps into adjs or advs, but determine if you really need the expression in the first place. Rephrase!
Examples:
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The Last PowerPoint
For Now
Now, Go out there and Report the News!